Talking with Curator Gavin Kennedy about 'Summer Escape' at Ptown's Gaa Gallery

Entering Provincetown's Gaa Gallery for its current show "Summer Escape," it is impossible not to feel its vibrancy. The bold colors and shapes have an energy that suggests the summer season, which, is a time of getting away to such summer resorts as Provincetown to escape the daily routine.

And that immersive experience is the point that the exhibit curator, Gavin Kennedy (working with gallery director and visual artist Erin Woodbrey) are making with the show, which features the works of 13 artists shown in two parts. (The second installation will be in July.)

The artists are Juan Arango Palacios, Mark Joshua Epstein, Koak, Laurens Legiers, Amy Lincoln, Lauren Luloff, Erika Ranee, Pacifico Silano, Krzysztof Strzelecki, Richard Tinkler, Lumin Wakoa, Summer Wheat, and Letha Wilson. The exhibition opens at Gaa Gallery's Provincetown space on June 30 with a public reception from 6 - 8 pm. The Gaa Gallery is located at 494 Commercial Street in Provincetown's East End.

EDGE spoke Gavin about how the show came about, their curating process, and what "Summer Escape" means.

EDGE: Congratulations. This is the first show you have curated. How did it come about?

Gavin Kennedy: Well, it's a fun and tight-knit arts community in Provincetown. I'm on the board of the town's Fine Arts Work Center, which is this amazing fellowship program. Each year 10 writers and 10 visual artists spend October to May living and working together. Everyone has their own apartment and studio space. I've been on the board there for about seven years. Bettina Rosarius, who founded Gaa, is also on the board and we became friends and worked on several initiatives together, including putting on an annual exhibition of former visual arts fellows. Bettina thought it would be fun to have a guest curator get involved in what the show would be for the summer in Provincetown. She asked me if I might be interested, and I said I would love to do it!

EDGE: You have called the show "Summer Escape." This being high season in Provincetown, was the summer theme always part of the show concept?

Gavin Kennedy: A summer concept makes intuitive sense considering the show is taking place in a beach town in the summer. But conceptually it is more about Summer and Escapism as a metaphor. I think we're living in a time when the world seems to be really upside down. We're constantly bombarded with bad news, whether it's about the environment, or the state of politics, or eroding civil rights, etc, etc, etc. Everything reasonable people care about seems to be under attack. It can be really overwhelming. It's important to me to find inspiration in keeping a positive outlook, and for me, a path towards maintaining hope and optimism is through art.

So, the idea of the show "Summer Escape" is sort of inspired by Provincetown itself as a really hopeful and supportive arts colony. It is its own world, where people can go to sort of exist outside these terrible news stories even if just for a weekend, and the arts here play a big part in that, whether is performance, poetry, visual arts, writings etc. Provincetown is a really supportive community, that reminds me the world can be a better place for all, so I wanted to capture that spirit and the idea of art as a healing or inspiring tool in this show. And so "Summer Escape." I think it is a little bit of a play on words, but also it's fine to think of the name in a literal sense in that people are coming to Provincetown to visit all summer and I wanted it to be a joyful and optimistic show for anyone who wanders in. And so, the name felt appropriately simple and fun even if there is a little bit of deeper intent behind it.

EDGE: That optimism comes across when you walk into the gallery for the first time. But this being your first show, what have you learned from the process?

Gavin Kennedy: When I started I created this PowerPoint with little jpegs and images of about 20 artists. And when I ran it by the Gaa Gallery team what I learned is that although I wasn't totally familiar with the gallery's artist roster and past show history, my list had this amazing overlap with their programming. Some have shown before, others are personal friends of Bettina, Alexandra or Erin, and others were on their radar for the future. It was cool to learn that that we had such a synchronistic vision of what type of artist and artwork fits Gaa Gallery's mission.

EDGE: What was the installation process like?

Gavin Kennedy: We had some time we could play around with the space and different ideas. So we actually made paper cut outs of each of the works in the show, and kind of laid them out in the space beforehand to give us an idea of where works could be in conversation with each other. But it's different when you have the actual work there to sort of see what feels best in the space. Once we had the out up I was left thinking, well, we're so ahead of the game! This is so professional! Then when all the works arrived we were like, oh, this doesn't work. So, we had a plan, then shuffled things around from there a bit.

EDGE: And you're going to do it all again in a couple weeks because you have a second set...

Gavin Kennedy: Yes! This is a two part show. Some of the artists will remain the same with different works up, and there'll be a bunch of additional new artists connected to the same central theme, but with a bit of a visual pivot towards later summer. So there will be some interesting differences in approach that I hope the visitor will see through the work in part two.

EDGE: What do you want our viewers to take away from the show?

Gavin Kennedy: This is the first show I have ever curated. Sometimes I think that the art world can feel a bit obtuse. Like an intentionality around the 'Art World' being a little hard to break into, understand or take away something that resonates with you on a personal level. I guess my hope is that this show kind of breaks down some of those barriers because art has the power to heal and inspire when it speaks to everyone. At the end of the day on a basic level I want this show to be visually uplifting, to make people smile and feel good. And I hope through this process viewers ask themselves why the works make them smile – which is a simple gateway into appreciating contemporary art.

EDGE: And why is Provincetown such a great summer escape?

Gavin Kennedy: I'm speaking as a gay man, but you meet so many people that come here from homophobic parts of the country and can't believe it. They're like, 'wow, I didn't know places like this existed, or even could exist.' It's a place to be yourself. And if you are a visitor, when you leave, It's nice to know that there's this place sort of at the end of the world, literally, where there are all kinds of like-minded people that share your values. Whether it's around the thriving arts community, or people that are inspired and enjoy nature, it's a hopeful place where it feels magic can happen. I can't have enough amazing things to say about Provincetown.

For more on "Summer Escapes," visit the Gaa Gallery.